Internet searches reveal time of peak allergy suffering

Internet searches may reveal when allergy suffering in the United States is at its worst, a new study suggests.

The results show searches for allergy symptoms such as "sneezing" and "itchy nose," peak during the second week in May.

This may be because allergy sufferers are experiencing both spring and summer allergy symptoms during this time, said study researcher Dr. Leonard Bielory, an allergist in New Jersey.

Bielory analyzed information from Google between 2004 and 2011, looking at the number of searches for information on the symptoms of nasal allergies, eye allergies, and hay fever. He compared the number of searches with pollen counts.

Searches for nasal allergies peaked between March and May, followed by searchers for eye allergies in May.

Eye allergy searches were associated with the pollen counts of certain trees in the second week of May.

There was also a second peak in searchers for allergy symptoms in September that was linked with an increase in weed pollen and grass pollen season, Bielory said.

The study was presented this week at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in Anaheim, Calif.